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LANCE CPL. ALEXANDER RICHARDSON FACING MISDEMEANOR FOR BEING TOUGH ON BAD GUYS
One of the South Carolina Highway Patrol officers who used his patrol car as a battering ram to take down a fleeing suspect has been charged with a federal crime that makes sense only if you like criminals.
Documents filed in federal court this week show Lance Cpl. Alexander Richardson is facing a misdemeanor charge of violating civil rights by using excessive force. Highway Patrol spokesman Sid Gaulden said Wednesday that Richardson has not been suspended.
A dashboard video shows a man being hit at least once as Richardson drives over sidewalks and curbs at a Columbia apartment complex. He was reprimanded and ordered to take a stress management course after the incident.
Two other troopers caught on tape hitting suspects have faced felony civil rights charges. One has pleaded guilty, and the other was found not guilty. [AP]
I agree that the trooper who kicked a suspect in the head when the guy was already on the ground went too far. But what the hell is wrong with using every means necessary — including a police cruiser — to take down a criminal attempting to get away?
If that’s really a problem, then why even chase them at all? In fact, we might as well just get rid of their weapons too and turn them into mall security. They can drive around in circles all day in their white truck with the little orange light on the top while criminals run wild and free.
A “disproportionate use of deadly force” argument fits this situation pretty well. People hit by cars often get killed; it isn’t a leap of faith to suggest that the guy might have been pulled under the tire and crushed.
Furthermore there wasn’t any evidence of him having a weapon or threatening the police officer.
Plus, driving around the lawns of a residential complex is risking an awful lot of collateral damage. It’s lucky that the small kid seen in the video had his father nearby to push him out of the way of the cruiser.
That cop was just being lazy; backup should have already been on the way, and as soon as the supect fled on foot he should have gotten out of his car to chase him.
Yeah I don’t like criminals, but I don’t like lazy cops making bad decisions either. If hitting a guy on foot with your cruiser is acceptable, then why stop there? Let’s just nuke him from orbit; that’s the only way to be sure.
Way out of bounds! Disproportionate use of deadly force is almost putting it lightly.